I used another computer and it seems to be getting further. Now my question is, how do I divorce the internal drive and then marry it? I've seen threads that tell you how to do it on the external drives but none that say it for the internal. Is it something that will be fairly obvious?

Ok guys I'm done! It's going through the guided setup now. After much searching on the forums I found that people have had the same problem and it was the hdmi port on their tvs. Sure enough I changed ports and it was sitting there waiting for me to select my country!

I have a Premiere XL I bought off Ebay a couple years back... Seems to be stuck in a reboot loop... It gets to the second screen then resets.

I ended up just getting one of Craigslist, but I have this one sitting around and would like to give it to a friend...

Thought it might be a drive issue... I used to uograde Tivos back in the series 1/2 days so have an idea how to set up a drive but just didn't want to mess with it since I no longer have a desktop PC in the house--all laptops now lol

If it's the HDMI port that might be easier... Where do I get them to swap it out?

I have a Premiere XL I bought off Ebay a couple years back... Seems to be stuck in a reboot loop... It gets to the second screen then resets.

I ended up just getting one of Craigslist, but I have this one sitting around and would like to give it to a friend...

Thought it might be a drive issue... I used to uograde Tivos back in the series 1/2 days so have an idea how to set up a drive but just didn't want to mess with it since I no longer have a desktop PC in the house--all laptops now lol

If it's the HDMI port that might be easier... Where do I get them to swap it out?

If it is actually in a reboot loop, then it is unlikely to be an HDMI issue.

Unless it has lifetime service, it may not be worth the effort/expense to repair.

You could buy a pre-configured drive or use a USB-SATA adapter to DIY with your lpatop.

I'm trying to copy/expand a Premier 320GB factory image to a new 1T using Comer's tools. I bought the unit from a friend who recently upgraded to the Roamio due to this TiVo not booting beyond "Welcome, Powering Up" screen. I assumed the drive was failing and decided at $50 it was a bargain.

I'm at the point in jmfs in the first step and am seeing this on the screen of my PC:

I'm going out on as limb to assume his TiVo would not boot perhaps due to the failed blocks but I'm no professional.
Do you think this will ever complete and if it does will it even be useable on the 1T drive I just transferred it over to?

Been monitoring it all night and it was going great for most of the three hours, then the "Splitting Failed Blocks..." message made me feel empty inside.

Can you share the link for the image to a long-time self-upgrader? I am not currently blessed with a clean image and my new 65" Panasonic HDTV arrives Monday at between 3-6PM. I'd love to get this baby purring before then!

Thanks for all you have contributed here, I'm constantly astounded at the level of excellence this forum has ALWAYS provided on so many levels.

I am trying to expand my new Tivo drive (WD20EURS) to fully use the 2 TB of space. After copying over the partition Greg gave me and setting up the drive, the Tivo works great. However, I am having issues with the jmfs boot cd. I have an Intel Mac Mini and when booting from the CD, I get a "JavaMFS data not found" error. I was never prompted for anything but do get a command prompt.

I unplugged all my external devices and just connected the new Tivo drive (WD20EURS) via a USB to SATA adapter. I decided to try the command line. I ran "frisk -l" and "Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3" was returned as expected. However, "hdparm -i /dev/sda" resulted in "Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table".

Any ideas on how I might get around this? is it the Mac mini, the USB to SATA adapter, or something else? I am pretty sure I used the USB to SATA adapter in the past to copy and expand a Series 3 Tivo. Thanks in advance for any help.

I am trying to expand my new Tivo drive (WD20EURS) to fully use the 2 TB of space. After copying over the partition Greg gave me and setting up the drive, the Tivo works great. However, I am having issues with the jmfs boot cd. I have an Intel Mac Mini and when booting from the CD, I get a "JavaMFS data not found" error. I was never prompted for anything but do get a command prompt.

I unplugged all my external devices and just connected the new Tivo drive (WD20EURS) via a USB to SATA adapter. I decided to try the command line. I ran "frisk -l" and "Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3" was returned as expected. However, "hdparm -i /dev/sda" resulted in "Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table".

Any ideas on how I might get around this? is it the Mac mini, the USB to SATA adapter, or something else? I am pretty sure I used the USB to SATA adapter in the past to copy and expand a Series 3 Tivo. Thanks in advance for any help.

So I've been searching and I think I got this straight, but I just want some verification.

The largest single drive upgrade for a Premiere 4 unit using free tools to upgrade is 2TB.

Weaknees sells a 4TB upgrade for the Premiere 4, but it's a dual drive (internal/external) setup.

No one has figured out how to do a 4TB single internal drive for the Premiere 4.

Short answer yes, with the Roamio now out that can take a 3Tb drive without any upgrade software the upgrade people are working on a 4Tb upgrade for that model, Weaknees has already figured out how to do the 4Tb upgrade for the Roamio.

My WD20EARX (which I put in a TIVO Premiere 2 years ago) started making noise last night. I happened to have a brand new WD20EARX available, so used JMFS to copy the older drive to the newer drive. After 10 hours, 1.5 TB into the copy, the process failed, with the error message: "ddrescue; write error: no space left on device" and also "Copy did not finish successfully"

I tried to resume the copy without success, and then tried to start over, however JMFS would not recognized the drive. I tried every combination of switching SATA cables, power cables, etc. to no avail.

Then I tried looking at the new drive in Windows 7. At first, I could see it in Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management, but when I tried do anything with it, I got an error message about an I/O failure. Subsequently, it is no longer visible that way, despite again switching SATA cables, power, etc.

It certainly sounds to me like the new drive is dead. Could JMFS have killed it?

Should I be able to copy a functioning (though not original) 2TB TIVO WD20EARX to another new identical drive with JMFS?

If not, what can I do to get my TIVO working again? I don't have the original TIVO Premiere disk, as I have used it in a computer.

My WD20EARX (which I put in a TIVO Premiere 2 years ago) started making noise last night. I happened to have a brand new WD20EARX available, so used JMFS to copy the older drive to the newer drive. After 10 hours, 1.5 TB into the copy, the process failed, with the error message: "ddrescue; write error: no space left on device" and also "Copy did not finish successfully"

I tried to resume the copy without success, and then tried to start over, however JMFS would not recognized the drive. I tried every combination of switching SATA cables, power cables, etc. to no avail.

Then I tried looking at the new drive in Windows 7. At first, I could see it in Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management, but when I tried do anything with it, I got an error message about an I/O failure. Subsequently, it is no longer visible that way, despite again switching SATA cables, power, etc.

It certainly sounds to me like the new drive is dead. Could JMFS have killed it?

Should I be able to copy a functioning (though not original) 2TB TIVO WD20EARX to another new identical drive with JMFS?

If not, what can I do to get my TIVO working again? I don't have the original TIVO Premiere disk, as I have used it in a computer.

Thanks so much for any help!

JMFS doesn't "kill" drives, unless you mix up which is the source, and which is the target, and that's still only an image kill, not the drive.

Booting into Windows and viewing the drive with disk manager has been known to "kill" images, not drives.

A guaranteed image kill if you let Windows/disk manager "initialize" the drive, still not the drive itself.

It sounds like the drive killed itself. Don't blame the software. Even if the drive hadn't self-destructed, you made plenty of mistakes a bit of research on here could have prevented.

Didn't you read the 1 million posts around here that say you shouldn't repurpose the original TiVo drive?

Thankfully, some people have made backups, and/or didn't repurpose their original TiVo drive.

Post your model number, which starts with "TCD", and I'm sure some kind soul will PM you an image. There are "image begging" threads on here, where you can post your model, which is where you really should do so.

Openly asking for and/or openly posting links to images, is frowned upon here, just so you know, and it's best to keep any hints that you need an image for your model in an appropriate thread.

__________________
*Coming in 2016: TiVo introduces OneTiVo with OneWay - There will no longer be any pesky choices to make. TiVo will determine what you watch, when, in what order, and content source.

Thanks for the information, nooneuknow. It's funny; I've upgraded 2 or 3 TIVOs over the years, and have never noticed a post about saving the original drive. But I see what you mean.

Actually, though, the WD20EARX I have been using for the past 2 years in my TIVO Premiere is not yet dead; just making a noise occasionally. It seems to be working fine.

Before I waste $100 on another HD, can you please tell me: should I be able to copy my current 2TB drive to another, new 2TB drive (probably I'll buy a WD20EURS) using JMFS?

If the only way to put a new drive in my TIVO is to get an image and burn it on a new drive, will I be able to somehow move the material from the old drive to the new one? Will putting in a new drive create problems with my lifetime TIVO contract, or my cablecard connections?

Copying it byte for byte using ddrescue on the JMFS disk should work fine. If there are enough bad spots on the source drive it may take a LONG time to complete.

You could also try DvrBARS using the Modified Full method. Since it only reads the sectors actually in use by the OS and recordings you might get lucky and avoid bad spots altogether. The downside is that you need enough free space on your PC for the temporary backup image (it doesn't do disk-to-disk).

If you start over from scratch you will lose your CableCARD pairing and all settings. Lifetime is on the motherboard, not the disk. You can copy the recordings to your computer with kmttg, pyTivo or TiVo Desktop first if they aren't copy protected.

Thanks for the information, nooneuknow. It's funny; I've upgraded 2 or 3 TIVOs over the years, and have never noticed a post about saving the original drive. But I see what you mean.

Actually, though, the WD20EARX I have been using for the past 2 years in my TIVO Premiere is not yet dead; just making a noise occasionally. It seems to be working fine.

Before I waste $100 on another HD, can you please tell me: should I be able to copy my current 2TB drive to another, new 2TB drive (probably I'll buy a WD20EURS) using JMFS?

If the only way to put a new drive in my TIVO is to get an image and burn it on a new drive, will I be able to somehow move the material from the old drive to the new one? Will putting in a new drive create problems with my lifetime TIVO contract, or my cablecard connections?

Thanks so much!

You should have run WD's own diagnostic software long test on that brand new EARX before putting it into service, and you should do the same on that EURS if you get it.

The original drive with the software that came on it from the factory or whatever it had been updated to by TiVo while it was in and operating the TiVo is known to work properly in the TiVo (if you upgraded before it went bad) and therefore is an invaluable troubleshooting tool, and source of image in case it's replacement has to be replaced.

That's why you set it aside somewhere safe.

You might have been better off to have wrapped some paper towel around the failing drive and put it in the freezer overnight while you ran the long test on it's replacement, and had some ice packs ready as well to keep it cooled while trying to copy it.

The paper towel absorbs condensation and protects your hands from the cold metal when you take it out of the freezer.

You should have run WD's own diagnostic software long test on that brand new EARX before putting it into service, and you should do the same on that EURS if you get it.

The original drive with the software that came on it from the factory or whatever it had been updated to by TiVo while it was in and operating the TiVo is known to work properly in the TiVo (if you upgraded before it went bad) and therefore is an invaluable troubleshooting tool, and source of image in case it's replacement has to be replaced.

That's why you set it aside somewhere safe.

You might have been better off to have wrapped some paper towel around the failing drive and put it in the freezer overnight while you ran the long test on it's replacement, and had some ice packs ready as well to keep it cooled while trying to copy it.

The paper towel absorbs condensation and protects your hands from the cold metal when you take it out of the freezer.

Drive chilling should be a LAST RESORT measure, and the drive never used for anything important again.

Paper towels only protect against condensation on the parts of the drive you can see, which are the parts least affected by condensation.

You are the only person I see who is often dishing out a method that most recovery sites no longer advise to use (or they now advise against). They have changed to recommending peltier cooling devices and/or heatsinks, with a non-electrically-conductive thermal-pad (at least when used on the circuit board).

Sometimes a fan blowing over the drive is all that is needed, when running a drive in a place where you would not usually use one (bench-tops, and other places where there's no continuous forced airflow), and that it's usually best to position the drive circuit-board-side-up.

Yet, you are so careful not to post how to use hdparm in public postings...

You can do equal, or greater, damage to a drive with the "freezer method" or anything else that can create condensation.

I wish you'd be equally careful, and clear, with the risks as you are with the use of hdparm...

I've successfully used the freezer & other condensation-risking measures, but not in over 3 years. All attempts to use it in the last 3 years have failed for me.

Of course, YMMV.

I'm not picking on you, or trying to start anything. I jump in when people give advice about inspecting power supplies, but fail to give basic general electrical safety advice, as well.

__________________
*Coming in 2016: TiVo introduces OneTiVo with OneWay - There will no longer be any pesky choices to make. TiVo will determine what you watch, when, in what order, and content source.

ggieseke, I ran DvrBARS which showed my drive to have a size of 1.82 TB (my recollection; I didn't write it down). When I set up a Modified Full copy, DvrBARS was ready to copy 1.845 TB; more than the size of my EARX.

I didn't actually do a Modified Full copy because I didn't have the disk space. A truncated copy worked fine, and was 3.45 GB.

My question: I realize that DvrBARS is not JMFS, but since DvrBARS is viewing my drive as having more data than the size of the drive, is it even possible that JMFS could copy it onto an identical, new EARX? I'm wondering if this is what caused the JFMS copy to fail the first time I tried.

1.82TB on the first screen sounds right. I have never seen it report a number higher than that after analyzing the disk for a Modified Full or Truncated backup.

During the analysis phase I set up an array of zeroes in memory (one for every sector on the source drive). As it spots sectors in use it changes the appropriate zero to a one, and at the final screen I just add them up and display the projected maximum backup file size.

It's impossible for it to try to write more sectors than the source drive during a restore so it probably would have worked anyway, but I'll have another look at that part of the code. The difference may be due to the overhead of the VHD file format or just a stupid mistake on my part.

When the Premiere is running do you have anything in the Recently Deleted folder, or is it chock full of actual recordings?

Drive chilling should be a LAST RESORT measure, and the drive never used for anything important again.

If one is having to resort to a multi-pass, byte by byte, "Xeroxing" attempt, it's because the drive is circling the drain anyway and the goal is to save what's written on it while that might still be possible, and not the drive itself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nooneuknow

Paper towels only protect against condensation on the parts of the drive you can see, which are the parts least affected by condensation.

You are the only person I see who is often dishing out a method that most recovery sites no longer advise to use (or they now advise against). They have changed to recommending peltier cooling devices and/or heatsinks, with a non-electrically-conductive thermal-pad (at least when used on the circuit board).

Sometimes a fan blowing over the drive is all that is needed, when running a drive in a place where you would not usually use one (bench-tops, and other places where there's no continuous forced airflow), and that it's usually best to position the drive circuit-board-side-up.

People trying to do this at home, and needing to come here for advice, do not generally have easy access to "...peltier cooling devices and/or heatsinks, with a non-electrically-conductive thermal-pad...", or the experience to know how and why to use them.

Now if someone wants to pay some data recovery outfit a few thousand dollars instead I'm all in favor of stimulating the economy and I'm sure it'll give them a greater chance at success.

If one is having to resort to a multi-pass, byte by byte, "Xeroxing" attempt, it's because the drive is circling the drain anyway and the goal is to save what's written on it while that might still be possible, and not the drive itself.

People trying to do this at home, and needing to come here for advice, do not generally have easy access to "...peltier cooling devices and/or heatsinks, with a non-electrically-conductive thermal-pad...", or the experience to know how and why to use them.

Now if someone wants to pay some data recovery outfit a few thousand dollars instead I'm all in favor of stimulating the economy and I'm sure it'll give them a greater chance at success.

I can only offer up what has sometimes worked for me.

My post was for the many others that may come here in the future, not just one person.

If you read the posts from the person originally inquiring, they were saying the drive was working in the TiVo, just making questionable noises.

I sure wouldn't freeze/chill a drive that I could possibly use for unimportant, other-type uses, unless I had to.

There are currently several "DIY data recovery sites" and/or "purveyors of tools for DIY hard drive repair" sites. These are the sites I speak of. They will sell you tools that even allow you to change-out your actuator/heads, clamp the platters in place to swap the platters, sell "donor circuit boards", and so much more.

I don't appreciate the implication of being a data-recovery industrial complex shill, trying to get people to send their drives in. Never was the case, never will be.

I guess I'm a real freak, that I actually have a drawer full of all the heatsinks I've pulled out of service, and/or removed from assemblies that I discarded, also a real freak that I have multiple drawers of fans, and a cornucopia of various non-conductive thermal pads, grease, and epoxies.

Some DIY enthusiasts DO have these things around, some don't. I feel that for future thread browsers, it's best that some things have a balanced amount of input, as well as not assuming one size fits all.

As I expected, others did contribute on the parts I didn't have the time to go into detail about, at the time.

If you are going to assume things about people, I feel it's best to assume from one extreme, to the other extreme. Like I said, who knows the full skill-level of one person inquiring, and/or that of everybody who will see these posts in this discussion in the future.

Sigh... Why doesn't anybody pay any attention to the deliberately included comments I add, stating that I'm not trying to pick a fight, and just trying to contribute, like this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by nooneuknow

Of course, YMMV.

I'm not picking on you, or trying to start anything. I jump in when people give advice about inspecting power supplies, but fail to give basic general electrical safety advice, as well.

__________________
*Coming in 2016: TiVo introduces OneTiVo with OneWay - There will no longer be any pesky choices to make. TiVo will determine what you watch, when, in what order, and content source.

When I booted up the linux jmfs CD it's seeing the tivo drive (320) and the internal computer drive but not the other new WD20EZRX (2T).
It wants to use the internal computer drive as the target. Yikes!

When I booted up the linux jmfs CD it's seeing the tivo drive (320) and the internal computer drive but not the other new WD20EZRX (2T).
It wants to use the internal computer drive as the target. Yikes!

Using disk management in Win7 it sees all 4 drives (internal, CD, tivo and 2T).
JMFS is not seeing the EZRX.

Is the ezrx not a viable upgrade drive?

What am I doing wrong?

My Tivo is a premiere with lifetime service.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Pat

I have a BlacX dual dock and Windows sees both drives IF it's on an eSATA port that supports the port multiplier function. On USB it only supports one drive at a time. I haven't tried it with jmfs yet, but there are a lot of variables involved.

Have you tried DvrBARS? It was designed for Windows and Premieres, and in your case it should see the new EZRX drive. You will still have to use jmfs to expand it, but backing up the 320 and restoring it to the 2TB operation should be a piece of cake. Then you can load one drive in the dock and expand it with jmfs.